Which to use
“frivole” is an adjective and “frôle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,299
- “frivole” frequency rank
- #23,559
- “frôle” frequency rank
- 64858
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | frivole | frôle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est vain, futile ; qui n’a nulle importance. | Nom vulgaire du chèvrefeuille des Alpes et de l'arbousier commun (Arbustus unedo). |
Where the eye mixes frivole and frôle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. frivole runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against frôle's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses frivole with frôle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: frivole is \fʁi.vɔl\ while frôle is \fʁol\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64858, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
frivole is recorded at frequency rank #41,299, classified as anadj, pronounced \fʁi.vɔl\. frôle is at rank #23,559, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fʁol\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 64858, this pair ranks #75,022 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of frivole vs frôle
Shared letters: eflr. Private to "frivole": iov. Private to "frôle": ô.
"frivole" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "frôle" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- frivole ← ffrivole · firvole · friovle · frivloe · frivoel · frivolle · frivvole · frrivole
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "frivole" for "frôle" ever safe?
Which is more common, "frivole" or "frôle"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "frivole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frôle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #75,022 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "frivole" and "frôle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "friable vs frivole". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #75,022 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.